Dashnor Kaloçi
Part seven
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents with the logo ‘Top secret’ issued by the Central State Archive in Tirana (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP) where are the minutes of the meetings of the senior party and state delegation of the Republic People’s Party of Albania, headed by the Minister of National Defense, Beqir Balluku, with the high delegation of the People’s Republic of China, headed by the chairman of the military commission at the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Ye Chen Ji, where discussed military issues, as well as the delegation led by the Minister of Trade, Kiço Ngjela, with the Chinese delegation led by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of China, Chu En Lai, where economic problems were discussed, as Albania there was an urgent need for cereals, but the Chinese government could not help them, as as a result of the drought, they could not carry out their plans and were buying nin wheat that the French had imported from the Americans! Unknown documents published for the first time with the full minutes of the two meetings held in Beijing on November 7, 1972, where the Albanian military delegation led by the Minister of National Defense, Beqir Balluku (where they took all directors of directorates and chiefs of different types of weapons of the Albanian army), it was requested that the Chinese government assist the Albanian army, with weapons of all types, starting from: light infantry weapons (rifles), artillery anti-aircraft, land and coastal vessels, tanks, armored vehicles, ships, torpedoes for naval combat fleet, chemical weapons, equipment and engineering materials, liaison, radio location, vehicles, aircraft and helicopters, mechanical tank repair plants and armored personnel carriers, ammunition and explosives, background material, etc., because according to Minister Balluku, the Albanian army was in a very difficult situation in terms of armaments, because it had World War II armaments, which had been brought by the Soviets since the 1950s.
Fund: CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE ALBANIAN LABOR PARTY
Relations with the Communist Party of China
Contents: THE FIRST MEETING OF THE RPSH MILITARY DELEGATION (CHAIRED BY BEQIR BALLUKU) WITH CHINESE FRIENDS OUR PEOPLE, AND OUR ARMIES. ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF ALBANIA WHERE THE INTERESTS OF NATO’S AGGRESSION PACTS AND THE WARSAW TREATY CROSS, THE CHOVINIST AND ANNEXIST GOALS OF THE STATES AROUND US. ON THE MEASURES TAKEN BY THE ALP, FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE COUNTRY AND THE SUBMISSION OF SOME REQUIREMENTS FOR STRENGTHENING THE DEFENSE.
THE FIRST PLENARY MEETING OF OUR DELEGATION WITH CHINESE FRIENDS, DATED 7.11.1972
Followed by the last number
Minutes of the meeting and talks of the Albanian delegation headed by the Minister of National Defense, Beqir Balluku, with the Chinese Prime Minister, Chu En Lai, in Beijing, on November 7, 1972
Comrade Beqir Balluku: In the villages we have a large population. We restrain the arrival of the population from the village to the city. Any departure from the village for the needs of our labor force is done very carefully and led by the executive committees of the popular councils of the districts, always keeping in mind that agriculture is not harmed either in the village or in the mountains. So even if we get manpower from the village this is done with a strong balance and regime.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Korea, too, has taken this measure. You may not want to hear our remarks but we want to share our experience with you.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Please Comrade Çu En Lai speak.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Recently we have done a lot of construction and we have had a workforce increase of 18 percent. We have used a lot of labor, because Lin Biao, as a criminal, has used some of the paths he had at hand. He has controlled all the work of the army and in this way, has caused a lot of damage to the military defense industry. Friends will tell you that they did a lot of damage. This happened because he has given different contradictory tasks to each other. For example, we started the production of helicopters in 1950, and so far we have not finally solved this work. Now competent comrades like Comrade Jeh Chen Ji, but also other comrades of the military commission, have begun to evaluate and take this issue seriously. You, do you have MIG-19 aircraft?! As far as I remember, you seem to me. We have also given you 12 pieces of Mig-21. How do they have the quality?!
Comrade Beqir Balluku: So far, they have not had any defects.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Some defects have been noticed in them. They were produced in Shenyang, and now we have moved this sector to Cheng Tu. After the discovery of Lin Biao’s plot, many shortcomings have been noticed, especially in the affairs of the army, so we will organize a general control. Generally this was the state of our country. The great cultural-proletarian revolution lasted longer than we had anticipated. It has been 7 years since 1966, and in these 7 years, we have waged 2 fierce wars. The 9th war was against Liu Shao Chia, while the 10th war was against Lin Biao’s plot. Lin Biao, was an undercover conspirator. We have been in disagreement with him since the 9th Party Congress. His danger was that, he was secretive and, removed as if he were the meticulous executor of the teachings of President Mao. While in fact he, acted against them. Taking advantage of the position he held in the party, he gathered many people around him, thus creating a faction within it.
Many foreign comrades are not clear that Lin Biao, organized the conspiracy against President Mao, since he was constitutionally appointed as his successor. Many ask why he made the full?! In the first place, the place he occupied in the party, he had won in dishonest ways. Having career goals he, was not guided by the teachings of the party. He was afraid of being discovered and started plotting, and the more he hid, the more he delved into his plots. Thus, in August 1970, he was discovered. At the August 1970 plenum in Lushan he held a false report which neither comrade Kan Shen, nor I, nor other comrades had seen. The problem of President Mao’s genius and talent was not posed from a dialectical point of view, but from an idealistic one. Why did Lin Biao do that?! Because he thought that people would follow him like blind people. We have informed the Central Committee of your party about this through our ambassador in Tirana.
Lin Biao, was not a Marxist-Leninist and his thoughts did not match ours. At first this report he kept, was supported by a group of friends, who had not consulted with the friends of the Politburo. Chairman Mao stated that Lin Biao, exercised his dictatorship for two and a half days, while on the third day, he was overthrown. The group that supported him also issued a bulletin with his materials which, at the behest of Chairman Mao, we removed from circulation. In the plenum, we severely criticized Chen Po Tan while defending Lin Biaon because he had done a useful job for the party in the past and on the other hand, we aimed to see if his followers would defend him or not. . But the opposite happened as they made a false criticism to escape the party’s punishment. Last year, President Mao paid a visit to the south, where he stated, among other things: that we should be for Marxism and not for revisionism, we should be sincere and not conspiratorial. These words apparently frightened him because he thought his secret plot had been uncovered. But in fact President Mao, was unaware of his factional actions. He was very scared and wanted to kill President Mao with assassinations.
Since Lushan’s plenum, dissatisfaction with him has begun, so he flew to the Soviet Union, and fell over Mongolia and died. Even if he had arrived in Moscow, there would not have been any great danger as there, there is also Wang Mingu. He acted under the mat, activating for this purpose the woman with her son. Chairman Mao, criticized his views and line but in fact he, was not aware of the plot prepared against him. We searched Lin Biao’s house and found evidence of his betrayal. Not only in the party but also in the army, he displaced a number of experienced cadres. The Soviets, when the plane crashed in Mongolia, verified his body, but in order to refute the truth, said that they, were people under the age of 40 and it was not Lin Biao with his family. In fact, they knew Lin Biao very well, as he had twice been to the Soviet Union for treatment.
He had gold-plated teeth. To clarify the people we have done a great job. His plot failed as soon as it was discovered, like that of Liri Belishova. We were not afraid to say this to the people, because we have great faith and authority in the people. Chairman Mao, has great sympathy among the people. Thanks to her hard work, the party’s authority has grown not only in China but also abroad. Neither you, much less us, had foreseen China’s entry into the UN. Years in July were announced, Nixon’s visit to China, while in October, his representative came here. After the rejection of the US resolution at the UN, the resolution of Albania and Algeria came out, which received 76 votes in favor, and more than 2/3 of the votes were in our favor. In this regard, we must thank you, because from the beginning you have helped us to establish China’s legitimate rights at the UN.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: No, this was done thanks to the great authority that China has in the international arena.
Comrade Chu En Lai: This is the result of your efforts, and that of the countries of Asia and Africa. Of course, during these 20 years, we have worked and gained authority, but there we entered into it with your consistent support. In fact we wanted to enter a little later, but since we won, we were forced to admit that there were representatives of different countries who threw and danced. You had enough trouble getting us into the UN and now; don’t ask about us anymore (joke). Our entry into the UN, burdened us with a heavy burden because the peoples of Asia, Africa, Latin America, have turned their eyes away from us. Likewise, Japan hastened to establish diplomatic relations with us. So the number of countries that have established diplomatic relations with us, since our entry into the UN until now, reached 20 countries. Now, our foreign affairs have been greatly enhanced. You brought us into the international arena, and you opened up a lot of work for us. Of the 35 countries we helped, 50 now became our own. We have diplomatic relations with 80 countries. This is a good thing, but also a heavy burden. We will talk about the situation one more time before you leave. Now the US has elections as far as I know and Nixon is expected to be re-elected, but with fewer votes. We will talk together again. Comrade Jeh Chen Ji told me that today the talks continued until 3 a.m. I said nothing; I want to meet today with Comrade Beqir and other comrades of the delegation.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Thank you Comrade Chu En Lai, for the warm and fast reception you gave us. We came to China yesterday and you met us today. This is an expression of the love and great care shown by the comrades of your party leadership, for our party and its leadership. It is an expression of the pure feelings, of the fraternal friendship that exist between our two parties, between our two peoples. Our friendship is a sacred thing, a noble thing. This friendship, Comrade Enver teaches us, must be preserved like the eyes of the forehead and strengthened constantly. We here, as brothers, talked about many economic, political, and military problems. We, Comrade Cu En Lai, will transmit your conversation to Comrade Enver. Comrade Kiço, he will go ahead of me, and he will pass it on to his friends sooner. But we, too, will pass it on to Comrade Enver and other comrades for the second time.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Thank you.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Your conversation, warm and social, touched on a series of our issues. We, and you comrade Chu En Lai, have talked once again and we have always noticed that your leadership, and you as its member, have seen our issues and resolved them with understanding and friendly spirit. You are aware that in the context of the economic and cultural development of the country, our party has paid and is paying great attention to agriculture. Our agriculture has made great progress since the land was reclaimed, the area under water has increased, there is a great struggle for the systematization of lands, for the introduction of modern agro-techniques, the use of chemical fertilizers, etc. We fight for the intensification of agriculture in the field, to get high yields per unit of land, even two crops per year.
In the hills and mountains, we open new lands and fight to make the hilly and mountainous village flourish. In the context of this great work, which is being done by the working masses in agriculture, the problem of the production of bread grains in the country, constitute the main task of the party, in the village. But in addition to the successes of both you and us, there are drawbacks. But, I want to emphasize that during these two years, our agriculture has been damaged by natural disasters, such as high humidity and long period of drought. These disasters, in the balances of our agricultural production, have created deficits. Now, we are in the first ten days of October and just at this time, our peasantry in cooperation with the schools and the army, work day and night in the field to pick the unripe cotton balls. Due to the humidity, autumn works are hindered, bad weather is damaging the corn, etc. So in these atmospheric conditions, these two years have had a negative impact on our agriculture. We know that you too have difficulties and commitments, but we address our needs to our friends and comrades.
Comrade Chu En Lai: There are 50 or so countries that ask for our help, and we have no way to refuse them.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: This is indeed a burden for you, but it shows that China’s authority has increased.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Forces do not respond to desire. We have to keep trying for 8-10 years. But when I say that, I mean only the beginning that we have to make even greater efforts, that we are a great country.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Such an internationalist aid can be given to us only by a Marxist-Leninist party, only a party led by Mao Zedong.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Not only us, but you do too.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: We do it too, but we do not have it.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Do not thank me, for I must thank you. We will help you to set up the metallurgical plant, to provide iron and nickel, etc. Of course, we also have some difficulties because we are in the test. You have filed 4 other requests. This was discussed with the ambassador friend. We are not able to respond positively to those requests at this time. In addition to the Fierza hydropower plant, you want to build another one. We are not able to answer you at this time. You have also demanded that the capacity of the Ballsh plant be increased. You have also made requests for TEC.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Comrade Abdyl Këllezi, as Chairman of the State Planning Commission, by order of the leadership, studies in perspective, the economic development of the country. He talked to Comrade Fan I about metallurgy, electricity, and petro chemistry. These three sectors are important strongholds for the development of our economy. Our industrial reserves in iron ore today are, 180,000,000 tons. But with the strengthening of geological research they can grow in a relatively short time to 250,000,000 tons. It is understood that the use of these reserves requires in the future the expansion of the processing capacity of metallurgy. Also, petrochemicals and electricity have all the possibilities and conditions to expand. Our leadership is studying these problems of great importance for our economy, and in addition to the requirements for the next 5 years, will also make requests for these facilities. We talk, Comrade Chu En Lai, that in the future we will see and solve these important problems for our economy together. This was the purpose of the meeting of comrade Abdyl Këllezi with comrade Fan I.
Comrade Chu En Lai: We will look into these problems and, if possible, help you.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Thank you.
Comrade Chu En Lai: During these two years, that we have established diplomatic relations with other countries, we have learned a lot about the technological processes. So far, we have been closed and we have tried to produce everything ourselves. While now, many advanced technological processes can be obtained from abroad.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Excuse us. Thank you for the warm welcome you made to us. We are real friends.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Thank you.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: I also told my friend Jeh Chen Ji, that I had the opportunity to come to you other times. I have entered between the workers and the peasants, and I have seen that your party is connected like flesh to bone, to your people.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Thank you very much, for the support of your party and Comrade Enver. Our two parties, led by Comrade Enver and Chairman Mao, are able to withstand any test, as our party recently faced, Lin Shao Chi’s line, and Lin Biao’s plot.
Comrade Kiço Ngjela: Thank you for solving this very big problem for us. You have to understand us right, that we need a lot and I did not want to bother you.
Comrade Chu En Lai: Solve other problems with friends. I congratulate you on the 31st anniversary of the Party.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Thank you, goodbye. Memorie.al
